The setting is the 1930s, in Rio de Janeiro's bohemian Lapa district, where pimps, prostitutes and pushers live alongside samba composers. Among its denizens is João Francisco dos Santos, a strapping son of ex-slaves, who challenges the stigmas of being illiterate, poor, black and homosexual. A good 6-feet tall, with a rippling torso and pomaded hair, João cuts a fine figure that is both male and female. He'll defend himself with a wicked kick, yet he'll hug himself as he croons to a Josephine Baker song. His "family" is a prostitute named Laurita, her daughter (whom João has adopted) and their effeminate servant Taboo. Unconventional, perhaps, but it's Laurita and Taboo who rally around João, providing the sequins for his debut at the Blue Danube club, where Santos begins his road to fame as Madame Sata – a name taken from the Cecil B. DeMille film Madam Satan. But João Francisco dos Santos' journey will not be an easy one, given that history tells us this man spent 27 of his 76 years in prison.